Vehicles, in some instances, have boom arms. A boom arm is a member that cantilevers from a body of the vehicle. Typically boom arms are associated with industrial vehicles, such as rail cars, fuel delivery vehicles, feed trailers, and the like. While the technology of the present application will be described with respect to industrial vehicles, with specific reference to feed trailers, the vehicle to which a boom arm may be attached should not be limited to industrial vehicles and/or feed trailers.
With reference to FIG. 1, a conventional feed trailer 10 is shown having a boom arm 12. The feed trailer 10 is coupled to a cab 14, which feed trailer 10 and cab 14 coupled together may be referred to as a truck or heavy-duty truck. As can be appreciated, the boom arm 12 as shown has a length L that is approximately equal to the length of the feed trailer. The boom arm 12 may have a length shorter or longer than the feed trailer in certain instances. The boom arm 12 is a single long member as shown. More complicated boom arms may provide multiple arms 12 coupled by a pivot point (not shown here), such as by joining the multiple arms 12 with knuckles or the like. The boom arm 12 is coupled to a rear end 16 of the feed trailer 10 at a pivot 18, such as by using the aforementioned knuckle or the like. The length of the boom arm 12 is supported, in the stowed position 20, by one or more saddles 22 extending from the freed trailer 10. The boom arm 12 may be restricted from movement when in the stowed position 20 by a latch, tie, lock, or the like, not shown in the figures, but generally known in the art.
While not shown, the boom arm 12 is pivoted about the pivot 18 such that the boom arm 12 is deployed away from the feed trailer 10 during use, which may be described as the deployed position. Typically, the feed trailer 10 is stationary when the boom arm 12 is deployed. If the feed trailer 10 is coupled to the cab 14, forming the aforementioned truck, often the truck has a parking brake set to inhibit movement of the cab 14 and feed trailer 10 during operation of the boom arm 12.
After use, the boom arm 12 needs to be returned into the stowed position 20 by pivoting the boom arm 12 back into the saddle or saddles 22 prior to the feed truck 10 being moved. The boom arm 12, the feed trailer 10, the truck 14 and potentially the associated property, are all subject to damage if the feed truck 10 is moved while the boom arm 12 is not in the stowed position 20. Unfortunately, operators of the truck 14 fail to confirm the boom arm 12 is in a stowed condition in some circumstances.
While some boom arms 12 have alarms to alert drivers that the boom arm 12 is not properly stowed in the saddle (or saddles) 22, conventional alarm systems employ complex wiring harnesses or manual configurations and are frequently easy to by-pass or disengage. Thus, conventional alarm systems are inadequate to present day operating conditions. Thus, against this background, an improved vehicle boom arm alarm is required.